I am exporting our feed and cannot get google product category to export
I am exporting our feed and cannot get google product category to export. We are looking to integrate with Webgains (affiliate marketing) and need this field in the export.
The short answer is:
This is a common and frustrating problem because Google only requires the google_product_category
However, Webgains does require this field, and they will reject your feed if it’s missing.
The simplest solution is to use a feed management tool, or the Google Merchant Center’s own feed rules feature, to force a default category or map your existing internal product_typegoogle_product_category
The long answer is:
Your issue stems from a conflict between Google’s modern feed requirements and the mandatory requirements of affiliate platforms like Webgains.
For Webgains to accurately categorize your products for their publishers, they need the google_product_category
If your platform isn’t exporting it, you need an intermediary solution to either populate it from a different data source within your system or create a dedicated process for Webgains.
You should first check if your e-commerce platform stores the Google Product Category data elsewhere, such as in a custom field or perhaps mapped under the product_type
If you have this data, your feed export tool simply needs to be configured to pull it into the Webgains-specific feed.
If the data is genuinely missing, you have two primary solutions.
First, use Google Merchant Center’s Feed Rules.
In Merchant Center, you can set a rule to look at your existing product_typegoogle_product_category
Once you have a clean feed in Merchant Center, you can look for a way to export that enriched data for Webgains, or use a third-party feed service to handle the complex mapping.
The second, more elegant, and future-proof solution is to use a server-side solution centered around the Google Ads API, Webgains Platform API, and Google Tag Manager (GTM) Server Container.
This approach is an excellent and cost-effective solution for several reasons.
Your existing Merchant Center feed is the gold standard source of product data, and the Google Ads API can be used to pull and push large volumes of structured product information, including the google_product_category
You would use GTM Server Container, hosted cheaply on a platform like Stape or Google Cloud Platform, as a middleware.
Instead of relying on a flaky file export from your platform, you set up a process to periodically sync the required product data – including the crucial google_product_category
You can then use a custom template or webhook within the GTM Server Container to securely push this enriched product data directly to the Webgains Platform API, bypassing the error-prone manual file upload.
This method is cheap because Stape hosting is highly affordable and the GTM Server Container is free.
It also future-proofs you by giving you complete control over the data being sent to any third party, allowing you to easily manage attribution and send other conversion data like Purchase or Add to Cart to affiliate platforms, which is similar to the approach used for reliable ad tracking with Facebook’s CAPI.
This method eliminates the dependency on a single file export, ensures data accuracy across channels, and makes it simple to enrich your feed with all required fields before it hits the Webgains platform.
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